, 1887-11-27
A MISSING DIAMOND.
An Exciting Search for a Lost
Gem.
A Defaulting Treasurer'sLucky
Escape.
Pacific Coast Notes--Forelgn
Affairs.
A Brilliant Sensation.

sensations In Washington society during
the last season was the appearance OF a
noted dealer In precious stones, who ere
ated a Juror among the ladies of the cabi-
net and high officials, and in social circles.
lie approached society with his gems
from a new direction-a social one. A
handsome and courteous gentleman him
self, with a beautiful wife, both accus-
toned to good social usages, the diamond
merchant was able to reach the inner Cir
Giles of society. He had quarters at the
Arlington, and within a few weeks after
his arrival he had Washington ladies in a
fever of excitement over the splendid
gems with which he dazzled their eyes,
aud all the husbands in Washington going
down into their pocketbooks, az wishing
the Cincinnati merchant was III Jericho.
When the season closed nearly 20, 900
had passed into the pockets of the ;Ualer
in precious stones, and rich and rare sere
the gems that flashed upon many a white
neck and arm In the great society brushes
of the latter part of the season, whose
owner had trusted before that to the
power OF their own beauty unadorned.
The diamond merchant has returned to
town, and is prepared for another cam
paign. Last night he had an adventure
in the Ebbitt house that made his hair
curl. He is noted for dealing in gems of
extraordinary size and value, and is in
trusted with the sale of such gems by
European and New York dealers. He
took a friend into the reading room OF
the hotel to show him an extraordinary
opal, claimed to be the largest an finest
In America, set in diamonds. He spread
out the stones on the table, aud hey
made a brilliant and dazzling display.
The opal, which is over an inch long and
wonderfully iridescent, was admired, to-
gether with a big amethyst set in bril-
%liants, and a handful of diamonds OF diff
terent values, some of them, as the say
ing goes, worth a kings ransom. At
the collection, 4 diamond of fifteen carats,
which he says is the finest in the world
which is for sale, and is valued at $40, 900.
He put the great stone in his tweezers
and passed 1t over to his friend, against
his usual custom, which is always to hold
the stone in his own hand when enclosed
in the tweezers. Just as the stone was
changing hands, and the diamond
merchant was saying, Hold it
firmly, there was a snap, a streak
of light, a click on the marble floor,
and the diamond was gone. Tie party
of men were sitting at the end of the
writing table near the windows opening
on + street, and the stone shot toward the
other end of the large room, from which
doors open into the general office near the
wash room and the news stand. The "
or three other gentlemen in the room
sprang for the 100000 diamond, and
everybody went down on hands and knees
in a search for it. The doors were hur-
rledly closed, and Mr.. Burch, the head
clerk summoned. Here was a fortune in
one little stone lying somewhere about
the hotel floors, and crowds of persons,
servants. etc, passing and repassing. The
stone seemed to shoot into the corner of
the room behind the door leading into
the general office, and search was made
there.
IF the stone is in sight you cannot
miss il" said the diamond merchant.
You might as well try to hide . coal of
fire."
1t was found that in hat particular cor
ner there were two holes through the
floor, where formerly heating pipes had
passed. When the diamond merchant
saw them he put his hands over his white
face, from which the perspiration was
pouring, and mu:tered:
MY God! What have | done?"
Meanwhile a negro had been brought in
and ordered to sweep the floor. There
had been no thought that the diamond
had gone out of the room into the general
office. The rumor of some great loss
spread about, and the people standing
about the lobby came crowding about the
guarded doors of the reading room. Just
at this point DR.. S, +. Coues, of the
United States navy, came out of the
wash room, and, seeing the crowd and the
people inside the reading room creeping
and searching, he stepped in and said to
the negro with the broom:
Whats the natter Something lost?''
Yes, sah," was the reply.
what is it?" asked the doctor.
Deed | don't know, sab. There is
the man that lost it," pointing to the
merchant.
"What have you lost2" asked DR..
Coues.
"a diamond" was the answer.
well, | guess | found it, said the
doctor. and he pulled the 800, 900 gem
from his vest pocket and placed it in the
hand of the diamond merchant.
The merchants trained eye recognized
it at once, and he threw his arm around
the doctors neck, and there was a sigh of
relief all around. The doctor had picked
it up in the door Of the wash room, where
it had been shot by a carrom on the wall
inside the reading room, and put it in his
vest pocket with the intention of handing
it in at the office.
II had no idea about the thing" he
said afterward. 4 thought it was some
brilliant, or Oregon diamond, and then
concluded that it came off from one of
those glass pendants on the chandeliers.
In fact, | came near not picking it up all,
and would not have done so except for its
exceptional %brilliancy. Even in the dark,
where it lay, it was like a star"
1t is probable that DR.. Coues by this
time is not without a souvenir of the
occasion, and that hereafter the diamond
merchant will hold his tweezers with an
iron grip.